Side Effects
by cloudXx9
Summary: Modern AU. At the age of ten, Elsa was diagnosed with acute cancer. Every day is a struggle when any day can be your last, making Elsa question a lot of different things as she battles her disease. But now at the age of 18, can the charismatic, life-loving Jackson Overland, who stumbled into her support group one day, help Elsa find the true beauty in life and in herself? JackXElsa
1. Prologue - Diagnosis

**A/N: I am still working on Chasing Ice, don't worry. That's my number one story at the moment. I've just temporarily hit a writer's block with the current chapter, but I'll get past it soon. And also with school slowly speeding up, and me still adjusting to college, I'm taking things a bit slow. But I've had this idea in my head for a while now and I really just needed to write it out; maybe it will help me through my block.**

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Prologue: Diagnosis

The examining room was white and the antiseptic air smelled of bleach and alcohol. Along the linoleum, medicinal green countertops were jars filled with swabs and bandages, and trays lined with cold, metal tools. There was a single picture on the wall, not even framed, depicting the anatomy of a person diagnosed with lung cancer due to smoking; the lungs were gray and wrinkled, her eyes and teeth yellow, the other organs spotted and discolored. Elsa would often think back to that poster.

As she sat on the examining table, her legs and feet dangling over the edge, Elsa tried to listen to the conversation her parents were having with the doctor outside of the room. She was worried. Doctor Sweet was a very nice man, always with a smile on his face; Elsa was never afraid for her doctor appointments because he always gave her a lollipop and asked how she was doing.

But when he had come back into the room after her parents had come to pick her up at the end of her appointment, Elsa saw that his eyes looked sad and his smile had turned into a frown. She knew there had to be something wrong. Her parents must have sensed that too, because when he asked to speak with them privately outside of the room, they both glanced at each other and held their hands. Elsa had been told to stay put.

Quietly, Elsa slid off of the high table and landed softly on the tiled floor. Tiptoeing toward the door, Elsa leaned her ear next to the thin crack that had been left open.

"—acute myeloid," she heard Doctor Sweet finish saying. His voice sounded very serious but it was gentle, too. Elsa didn't know what acute myeloid meant, so she continued to listen.

"H-how severe is it? Is it curable?" Her father asked, in a more frenzied tone.

"Luckily, it's not too far along. We caught it before it could spread into her blood stream. Right now, there is a rapid increase in the production of immature blood cells, which is causing a sort of block or crowding, making it hard for her bone marrow to create healthy cells. If left untreated, it will spill out into her blood stream and spread to other areas and organs of her body."

"But is it curable? Is my baby girl going to… going… t-to—"

Doctor Sweet cut her mother off before she could finish the sentence. "Mrs. Summers, with proper treatment the five-year survival rate goes up tremendously. However, because it is acute, that means that if left untreated, it can be fatal within weeks or months; I highly suggest that we start treatment immediately."

Elsa heard her mother let out a sob. She tried to peek through the crack, but could only see a sliver of Doctor Sweet's back.

"Please, whatever it takes," he father said desperately.

Doctor Sweet nodded his head. "Very well then. I think it's time that Elsa knew. We can discuss treatment options back inside the room."

Elsa breathed in sharply when she heard the sounds of footsteps and scampered away from the door, jumping and crawling back onto the examining table. She smoothed her skirt down just as the door opened and her parents re-entered with Doctor Sweet.

Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

Her mother was clutching onto her father's arm, and both of their faces were scared looking. Elsa didn't understand what was going on and why her parents were looking at her so strangely. She was just sick with the flu, wasn't she? For the past week, Elsa had stayed home because she was feverish and was tired all the time. Couldn't Doctor Sweet just give her some medicine that would make her better? Wasn't that usually how sick people got better?

Elsa looked over at her mom and started to become afraid as well. Why was her mother crying? "Momma?" Elsa asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper. Her mother only chocked up a sob in response.

Her dad stepped forward, rested his hand on Elsa's shoulder, and kissed the top of her head. "Everything will be alright, Elsa. I promise." She could hear the struggle in his voice.

Now Elsa was very frightened. What was going on? Why were they acting like that? Tears began to pool in her eyes. "P-Papa?" she now cried. "Papa, what's going on?"

Doctor Sweet approached her at this point, letting her parents step back and embrace each other. Doctor Sweet was so tall that even when he kneeled on one knee, he was still eye-level with Elsa. He still had a frown on his face and his dark brown eyes didn't hold the same, cheerful twinkle they normally had when she visited for checkups, and his dark skin shinned with a thin layer of sweat. "Elsa…" he began.

"Why is Momma crying, Doctor Sweet?" Elsa demanded, her small body had started to shake. She glanced over once more at her mother, and when the two made eye contact, her mother burst into tears and buried her face into her father's shoulder. Elsa could see a single tear roll down her father's cheek.

"Elsa," Doctor Sweet said once more, "I need you to look at me."

The ten year old girl turned hesitantly, although as if she would never see her parents again once she faced her doctor. Elsa's blue eyes finally looked away from her mother and father.

Doctor Sweet took a breath. "I'm very sorry Elsa. I am so, so sorry that I have to tell you this—"

"What?" she cried, her breathing heavy with fear and anger. "What is it?"

"Elsa, you have cancer."

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**A/N: So this is going to be slightly based off of **_**The Fault In Our Stars**_**, by the magnificent nerdfighter that is John Green - seriously, I'd vote for him as president any day. But that doesn't mean that characters in this story are going to end up like the characters from TFIOS. It will be Jack/Elsa (duh!) and that's all I know at the moment. I hope you liked my mini-prologue! Leave any thoughts/feelings in a review!**

**Stay classy Fanfiction!**

**Cloud.**


	2. Chapter One - Lemonade

**A/N: Thanks for the great reviews, everyone! As of now, I don't know how each character will end up by the end of this story, so if you have any ideas, send them in!**

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Chapter One: Lemonade

Elsa looked down into her cup of lemonade, which was more water than lemon. Manny's words were flying right over her head as she watched the pale yellow liquid lap around the plastic lining of her Styrofoam cup; after attending Support Group for the past five or so years, Elsa knew everything Manny had to say, word for word.

She let out a small sigh of boredom as her thin fingertips tapped lightly against the cup, creating small rhythmic ripples in her drink. A cookie crumb rose to the surface of the cup. Elsa frowned. Someone must have been eating a cookie over the lemonade bowl and contaminated the whole thing. Elsa's frown deepened; she was actually looking forward to drinking it, even if it didn't qualify as lemonade.

_I'm sick enough as it is, _she thought, _I don't need some other kid's germs inside me, too._ With another sigh, Elsa placed the cup on the ground beside her chair and clasped her hands together in her lap. The meeting had started less than ten minutes ago, but she was already anxious to leave.

Support Group was probably Elsa's least favorite part of the week. She found it to be dull, depressing, and unhelpful. It wasn't like sharing sad stories was going to stop her or any of the other kids there from dying. But her mom believed that Elsa shut herself up too much and needed an outlet to vent, and Support Group provided a safe and mutual environment to do that. Maybe if her mom knew that she never spoke at the meetings, she would stop forcing Elsa to attend them.

As Manny was in the middle of re-telling his story of how he encountered liver cancer by drinking and partying too much in college, Elsa leaned back and looked to the rafters. She found it ironic that their meetings were held in the local church's basement. Chances were that most of the kids in the room would be six feet under before they reached twenty-five; you'd think they would want to spend their time living above ground.

A small draft blew through the room and almost simultaneously, everyone gave a small shudder, except for Elsa. Unlike most people she knew, Elsa enjoyed the cold. Hot weather meant sweaty discomfort and sunburns, whereas cold weather was all about sweaters and hot chocolate. The feeling of cold air against Elsa's skin also woke her up and reminded her that she was still alive; it was refreshing and rejuvenating.

Looking around the room, Elsa came to notice that the group was a few kids short of its normal roster. That made Elsa's stomach churn in fear. The only reason to miss a meeting was if something urgent was going on, and for her particular group, urgent was a synonym for dying.

Elsa deducted that the three kids missing were Kristoff, Thia, and Jamie.

Kristoff was a survivor of lung cancer. His treatment regimen stopped half a year ago. The doctors were positive that they had stopped the cancer completely and he was cured. The only reason Kristoff still attended Suppot Group was because he liked to share his story to the others, letting them know that there was hope. So when Elsa realized that he was absent from the meeting, she wasn't too concerned. Chances were that he was just out of town with his family.

Thia and Jamie, however, were another story.

Thia was one of the only people Elsa ever talked to at Support Group. It was probably due to the fact that she was one of the only other girls there. For some reason, the number of cancer stricken kids in Burgess tended to be guys, go figure. Thia was a year younger than Elsa and was diagnosed with skin cancer. That was all Elsa really knew, though; Thia didn't share too much about herself, she was the kind of person who put others' problems before her own. Elsa did, however, recall Thia talking about having a scheduled skin graft sometime in the near future, so perhaps that was happening today.

But it was Jamie's absence that really scared Elsa. The eleven-year-old boy's health had been clearly declining over the past few weeks. Jamie's body had stopped responding to treatment and the tumor in his stomach had gone into metastasis and spread to his heart. The last time Elsa had seen Jamie, he had been wheeled into the basement by his mother and looked ghastly pale and tired. Elsa sent out a silent prayer for Jamie, hoping that she wouldn't be hearing his name on the list that day.

"Elsa?" Manny's deep and scratchy voice called, bringing Elsa away from her thoughts and prayers. Elsa looked up, her eyes drifting over the faces that stared back at her. She couldn't help but think, _Is this all there is? Sitting in a basement with a bunch of kids, drinking water-downed lemonade and eating stale cookies as we slowly waste away?_ Elsa hated herself for thinking things like that, but every Wednesday, she couldn't help but wonder what the point of it all was.

"_Elsa,_" Manny prodded again, this time sounding a bit more impatient. "It's your turn to share."

Elsa's eyes flickered over to Manny, slowly running up from his white tube socks and beige Birkenstock clad feet, to his Hawaiian print shorts, up around his large beer belly – even though he hadn't sipped a drop of alcohol in the past eleven years – and landing on his watery blue gaze. She gave him an annoyed look. Every time they met, Manny had each person share their name, diagnosis, and how they were doing. Elsa's response had never changed since her first meeting.

"My name's Elsa, I have acute myeloid leukemia, and I'm here, which means I'm not dead." That was it. She wouldn't give them anymore.

The boy sitting next to her then went and so forth until it reached back to Manny. "Okay. Now who would like to share one of their stories?"

At this time, Elsa was really wishing Thia was there with her. During Support Group, the two of them would communicate purely in sighs and eye rolls. Whenever another kid would talk about taking an experimental drug that had 't even been approved by the FDA or trying laser therapy, Thia would look over to Elsa, make a face, a let out the smallest of sighs that only Elsa seemed to catch. Elsa would shrug and shake her head in reply.

But with Thia gone, Elsa had nothing to do but listen to the same stories that were shared every meeting, clap her hands to show her support, and smile and nod her head to let the other kids know that they weren't alone. Man, did she wish her mom had let her stay home that day. Her morning basically went as followed:

Mom: Elsa, it's time to get up.

Elsa: Mnnnyah… sleeping…

Mom: It's almost noon, Elsa. Your meeting starts in twenty minutes. Now get up!

Elsa: I don't care. I'm not going to miss anything important. Can't I just stay home?

Mom: No. You need to get out of this house. You need to make friends.

Elsa: And those friends have to be other cancer kids, right?

Mom: Elsa!

Elsa: Mom… C'mom. It's the same crap every time.

Mom: Get out of bed, Elsa, this is your final warning.

And then after Elsa refused to budge in her bed, her mom had walked over to the bedroom window and slung the blinds open, bombarding the room with sunlight and nearly blinding Elsa. There was no winning when it came to arguing with her mom.

Later, however, Elsa would thank her mom for dragging her out of bed and to Support Group that day, because if she hadn't, chances were that Elsa would have never made the acquaintance of Jackson Overland.

The meeting was halfway through and Elsa had reverted back to spacing out everything around her. She was watching the second hand on the clock tick away, counting down the remaining seconds the meeting had. And at twelve-forty-five sharp, something different, something that not even Elsa could predict happened.

The storm cellar doors that Elsa had never seen used burst open, letting a large gust of late autumn air swirl throughout the room. Everyone jumped in surprise at the sudden activity and Manny stood up from his chair.

_What the?_ Elsa thought. _Who's coming into the basement through the storm cellar doors? _Every person who was part of Support Group knew to use the stairs through the church. Everyone waited for something else to happen.

A thin figure slowly stepped down the concrete stairs into the basement. It was a boy – and I good looking one, Elsa noted. With shaggy, dark auburn hair and large brown eyes, the boy reached up to slam the doors shut before turning to face everyone. "Sorry 'bout that," the boy chuckled, a soft smile on his face, "it's windy as hell out there." His eyes grazed over everyone, but Elsa was almost sure that his eyes stopped on her longer than anyone else.

"Who are you?" Manny demanded.

The boy's eyes moved away from Elsa to look at the small man. "I'm Jackson Overland. I'm here for the Cancer Support Group."

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**A/N: So I'm still stuck with **_**Chasing Ice.**_** I have, like, more than half of it written out, I promise. I just can't find the right words. Grrr! So I wrote this after struggling with that story all day. **


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